


Relight These Embers

by FiresFromOurHearts



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Have a Good Relationship, Azula Loves Zuko (Avatar), Because Ozai, Civil War, Do I know what I'm doing with these tags, Dragon Azula, Gen, Harm to Animals, Harm to Children, I swear, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, My First Work in This Fandom, Non-Linear Narrative, Or it kind of is linear, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) Dies, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Politics, Protective Azula (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Rebellion, Reincarnation, Zuko cares for his people, Zuko loves his people, and Azula cares for her brother, but there are a few things that are clearly set after everything, it's all good, it's clear cut though, kind of, no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 01:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30031113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiresFromOurHearts/pseuds/FiresFromOurHearts
Summary: Zuko is banished, but he loves his sister and he loves his people. He is banished for those people, but it does not stop him from helping them. And Azula? She loves her brother and would do anything for him - even if it means helping launch a political coup against the Fire Lord.
Relationships: Azula & Fire Nation Citizen(s) (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Zuko's Crew (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 115





	Relight These Embers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightHunterDeath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightHunterDeath/gifts).



> Happy birthday Night!! I hope you have a fantastic day lovely. In honour of it, I got myself to write an ATLA fic that hopefully you enjoy. Even if you don't, I hope you have an excellent day!

In the future, when there are people writing books about historical events, they will argue when the first event leading to Fire Lord Ozai’s fall occurred. Some will say that there’s no clear key event—that there are a number, all overlapping and impossible to clearly identify. Others, most in fact, will claim Ozai’s fall began with the Agni Kai with his son, Zuko; when he burnt his son’s face and Agni cried. Then, of course, there are a few scattered people who have different opinions. They will claim that it was Ozai’s treatment of his children, that it was Ozai’s own nature that led to his fall, that he only fell because Zuko saved the 41st Division.

They are all wrong, though some are more right than others. It is rather impossible to clearly outline one event that led to Ozai’s fall and subsequent death. But if one picked a single event that was more significant than most ever realised—it began when Zuko looked down at his sister and decided he loved her. There are few forces stronger than love.

* * *

When Azula is seven, her brother gifts her a phoenix-eagle for her birthday. The bird is a fine creature, feathers shimmering shades of red. Azula watches it fly high into the sky and then dive down back to her. She watches as its feathers drop, one by one, until it is a withered creature of grey skin and feathers made of ash. She watches as it goes up in a blaze, orange-red-yellow flames dancing where it once stood. She watches as it is reborn, a hatchling clawing its way out of the ashes and trumpeting its success at the sun.

Phoenix-eagles die and are reborn in their own flames. It is a common enough thing, but Azula never loses her fascination of watching it happen. Sometimes, she yearns to be the one being reborn in the flames. She can almost imagine it—the warmth dancing against her skin, knowing she is completely and wholly safe, the kind touch of the flames as they welcomed her back to life. The bird is a wonderful thing and, for an entire year, Azula loves it with almost all the love she is capable of.

But here is the thing about phoenix-eagles: they die and are reborn _only_ in their own flames. Flames from others injure it.

When Azula is eight, she watches without tears as her bird goes up in flames. As it dies, the phoenix-eagle screams, a pain-wrenched cry that will haunt Azula’s nightmares for many years. This is not the cry of success, not the war cry of a bird refusing to bow, but the scream of a creature that knows it is dying and hurting and only wants help.

Azula watches and does not cry because she cannot cry. It is as her father tells her, as they both watch the bird scream, “You cannot have weaknesses.” And, well, never let it be said that Azula is a slow learner. She’s not.

She just learns to hide things better.

* * *

There are whispers about how the Royal Family is blessed by Agni. The whispers might be true, but there is no blessing in this: two siblings chosen individually by their parents. There is no blessing in the cruelty of a gaze, in standards too high you can only fall short, in knowing that something is _wrongwrongwrong_ but not what. There is no blessing in being told that it’s okay to fail when you know that it’s a lie, in impossible tasks and a kind voice telling you no, in something stopping you every time you try.

They are children and they do not know better. The adults know better, but that does not mean they _do_ the best they can. They are only human; imperfect, fallible.

Zuko and Azula are children growing up, growing with warnings growled and snarled in their ears, growing up with fire at their fingertips, growing up with a war happening far away and knowing it’s for the betterment of their country.

Here is what no one knows, not yet at least: Azula loves Zuko with everything she is and she is better at hiding it; she knows what happens when you show weaknesses. Azula loves Zuko and they both know this, just as they know some things are best kept secret even if they don’t understand why. Their parents keep them apart, treat them differently, and they are both children, greedy and angry and wanting what the other has. But they are siblings, caring and reaching out to each other, offering and giving comfort unquestionably when no one else has ever done so.

Here is what no one knows, not yet at least: Zuko is not jealous over Azula’s bending or her prowess, but over how she is treated by Ozai. Then, one day, he sees reddened skin and bruises and knows that being better isn’t always equal to being perfect and falling short of perfection has its dangers. Then, he wants only to have his father’s attention on him so Azula sees less of the angry gaze Zuko always sees.

They are children, they should never have been each other’s protectors. But no one ever said the world was kind—and certainly not when you are part of the Royal Family.

* * *

We all know the story: Azula is given a doll and Zuko is given a dagger that says _Made in Earth Kingdom_ and _Never give up without a fight_.

Here is what you don’t know: Azula got her daggers, Zuko managed to buy them, and she holds them in her hand and feels the talons they should be. It’s easy to light them on fire, to set the metal alight, and for a second, it seems that all is right in the world, and she finally has the talons she’s been craving for so long.

Then Lu Ten dies and Ursa is gone and Azula has Zuko and her father and the palace grows darker, the light grows harder, and there is no safety to be found here. But Azula and Zuko have both been walking this battleground for a long, long time. Something may have shifted, but they still know how to walk here.

They just know it’s gotten more deadly. They only have so long until someone falls.

* * *

Zuko is a child, foolish and childish and trying to keep his father’s gaze away from Azula in the worst way possible—by making himself _seen_. However, there is more to Zuko than this.

Here is what has always been clear: Zuko loves his people, loves the Fire Nation fiercely and proudly. There is nothing wrong with this, but Zuko has also learnt to love carefully. He is loud and brash, but he walks the battlefield too.

But he was once told to stand up when people were doing something wrong because he is one of the only ones who can. He still makes the fatal mistake to stand up in that war chamber, to shout that using his people as bait is wrong. He was not wrong to do so.

Zuko’s burn was never his own fault. I wonder how many people told him that.

There are many things Zuko was told in the aftermath of that fight. The terms of his banishment, what was going to happen, how his father tried to kill him, how he must keep fighting.

Feverish and barely awake, Zuko somehow registers his sister squeezing his hand and telling him something else, “You do not need to apologise because you survived.” For Azula knows that you do not apologise for surviving, you take on the flame and make it yours. She’s better at firebending, but that doesn’t make her better than Zuko—just like how Zuko being better at fighting with swords doesn’t make him better than her.

Half-awake and unlikely to remember, Zuko meets Azula’s steady gaze with his one eye and squeezes her hand back. “We’re going to survive,” he tells her, banished and free, but chained in the worst of ways.

Zuko loves his people, but he has only ever stayed for Azula. This is something no one will see except for his sister.

* * *

When he boards the ship, rusty iron bucket that it is, Zuko is aware and has only just fought off his fever. The crew are small, the castoffs from the navy, and they do not meet Zuko’s eyes, don’t even look at him, not really.

Azula does not stand beside him, but he feels the shadow of her there anyway. She would look at them and laugh and say they’d never need this crew of hopeless navy soldiers. Maybe she’d be right, but Zuko does not have Azula right now and he is alone. He needs the help.

And then Iroh is there and Zuko is confused and full of rage because shouldn’t Iroh be staying in the palace? But Iroh simply laughs and says he would not let Zuko go on a trip without him. Like this is some vacation, like Zuko gets a choice, like they are not leaving Azula behind and Zuko isn’t screaming at the thought.

But Azula squeezed Zuko’s hand and promised him an ally. They are young and children and they need to bide their time for a bit longer. Zuko made the mistake and has been banished from the battlefield; he can only support her from a distance now. These are the lives—hardship and battlefields, burns and bruises, hiding in the shadows and baring their teeth in snarls not yet seen.

* * *

All the history books, all mentions of history, will claim that Fire Lord Ozai was brought down by a political coup created by both Azula and Zuko, strengthened by the alliances the latter had incurred with various other groups of power.

Here is what Zuko and Azula know to be true Ozai told them love was a weakness and never expected Azula to love anyway.

* * *

There are things that are easy to hide and then there are things that aren’t easy to hide but you try anyway. But whether something’s easy or not has never stopped Zuko—it never stopped Azula either. But right now, there’s only Zuko, alone, and uncertain where his uncle’s loyalties lie on a ship that is his but might not be loyal to him either.

That is not to say Zuko doesn’t have allies. Azula and him banding together against their father isn’t new nor is the idea of eventually taking down their father new either. It’s been something almost whispered about many times, plans have been made and discarded and changed. Zuko has allies, they’re just somewhat beyond his reach.

He does know this, however: people are usually willing to fight to live. The 41st have no chance of surviving, not as it currently stands. They are _new recruits_ , barely out of training and going against seasoned veterans who are some of the best in the Earth Kingdom. It’s basic logic. The 41st will die, even if the end result leads to the Earth Kingdom force being decimated.

The things Zuko has but doesn’t have are: a ship, a crew, an uncle who was once a general. The things Zuko has: himself. It doesn’t seem like enough, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try anyway. After all—never give up without a fight.

As the 41st are based in the Earth Kingdom, it’s easy enough to force the ship to dock in an Earth Kingdom town for a few days. And by easy enough, Zuko just shouts his uncle down and the rest of the crew down. They grumble and complain and he knows they hate him, consider him a spoiled brat of a prince and have only come because of his uncle, but Zuko doesn’t let that stop him. He doesn’t care if they hate him. He might not have their loyalty but he can keep them _safe_ as best he can, even from his own actions, even from his uncle.

The town they stop in is a harbour town known for being accepting of both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation ships. Which is good because Zuko can’t step on Fire Nation land according to his banishment terms and that now includes the colonies. On the other hand, Zuko now can’t really go to any Fire Nation occupied town if it’s been declared Fire Nation ground but he can’t get that information without using the Fire Nation comm bases, except he’s not allowed to do that.

And if he breaks the terms of banishment? Well, death has always been the sentence for that. Like it’s not enough that Zuko’s already been banished.

But—whatever. It sucks and it’s awful and Zuko can’t change it. But he can change what happens to the 41st Division. He can try to save them. He just has to be really careful and also let no one know who he is and what he’s doing.

At least creeping around the palace, hiding and darting into the shadows has helped him with remaining unnoticed. His uncle tries to keep an eye on him, tries to drag him down the street and into a tea shop—which of course Uncle Iroh somehow manages to find a tea shop in the middle of nowhere—to play Pai Sho, which Zuko refuses. The one good thing about being banished is he should be able to avoid being forced to play Pai Sho. Surely there’s something else to be doing? Anything else really.

Regardless, Zuko worms his way out of going to get tea and play Pai Sho and also escapes the watch of the two crewmembers that are meant to be watching him, not that he’s meant to know that of course. His escape may involve a fight breaking out in the market, a theatrical improvised play with three kids and Zuko with a mask, but he makes it out in the end.

The sun overhead is high and beginning to lean towards the horizon in the west. Using it to figure out the direction he needs to go in, Zuko begins to walk. He’s not extraordinarily close to where the 41st Division are positioned currently nor where the battle should be taking place, but he’s organised to have the ship docked for a few days. It should be enough time.

He hopes, desperately and with everything that he is, that it’s enough time.

Zuko walks. He walks and walks and walks. He walks while the sun sets and the moon rises and the stars slide across the sky.

As he walks, he does his best to pull up a plan. Because he _knows_ that he can’t save everyone and he just has him. Him, the banished prince, and no one can really know who did it either. If word gets back to his father, gets back to anyone, Zuko will be charged with treason and sentence his own uncle and crew with him.

And, well, if Zuko passes through a town selling masks and grabs one for himself, leaving a pile of coins behind, then it’s only because he’s figured out the beginning of a plan.

It’s an awful plan and Azula could probably make a better one in her sleep, but it is a plan at least. Which is more than he had previously. Then again, considering he’s heading straight for one of the worst battlegrounds, any plan is likely to be bad. He knows that Azula would call him an idiot for doing this, would tell him to leave his people because they’ll only die anyway and there’s no point to doing anything, but he’s not Azula.

In his father’s eyes, that was the problem. In his eyes, that’s not the problem at all. So Zuko walks and he plans and he feels something within him grow hotter.

* * *

Far in the future, history books will contain many conflicting stories about what happened when the 41st Division was sent into a trap to act as bait by the Fire Nation. There will be those who claim that the 41st really did die and everything that came after was an attempt on behalf of the Earth Kingdom to undermine the Fire Nation. There will also be those that claim the 41st Division partially escaped and Jeong Jeong, a Fire Nation deserter of a year, had been the one to rescue the new recruits.

Some of the stories are closer to the truth than the others. Not all the 41st Division escaped alive, that much has always been known. Jeong Jeong had a small hand in it, but he hadn’t been the one to lead the group of survivors to safety.

The 41st Division will rarely speak of it, and only to themselves late at night or in the shadows of a bar. They will claim that a creature with wings of fire and a masked mouth of fangs came to them. They will say the creature fought with swords and fire, that Agni had sent down a spirit to lead them to safety. They will say the creature led them out of the battle, away from the armies, to an encampment full of Fire Nation deserters where they were safe for the first time in a long time.

However, there are things that the 41st Division will never say, not until it is safe to do so—not for them, but for the one who led them out. Because the one who led them out was small but clearly alive; they got hit, got injured, bled like the rest of them. And, if the mask falls off briefly due to a flame coming far too close, if they see a young face, if they see a scarred face, they know better to say.

If they bow down and say, “My Prince, we will follow you,” then only they and their prince know.

The 41st Division survived, what more can be said?

* * *

The years pass. At first, they are too small, too alone, not quite strong enough. Still, with messages that are little more than whispers, they tell each other what they know, what they have, what their plans are.

The world is burning but so are their people, so is Azula, and Zuko has been scarred skin for far too long already. They have to wait; the possibility of trying and failing is far too high and they cannot afford to fail. That much has always been clear.

The years pass and not everything remains the same. Zuko’s crew, in time, prove to be competent when they follow someone they want to follow. And, after three years, they _are_ loyal to Zuko. At first, it’s because he isn’t like any other commander they’ve had before. He cares for them, individually, and refuses to punish them in the same manner previous commanders have.

If they see the scar on his face and think of the punishment the prince must’ve faced, they say nothing except for when they are far from the ship and the shadows are dark and their drinks are heavy in their hands.

But, after a year, something changes. Zuko makes a mistake—or maybe he didn’t considering how it all worked out in the end, regardless—he reveals to his uncle that he doesn’t think his father’s doing the right thing as leader of the Fire Nation. From there, one thing leads to another and Zuko learns of the White Lotus, an organisation dedicated to helping the Avatar.

Zuko, however, isn’t doing this for the Avatar or for the whole world or for peace. He’s doing this for his people, for his nation, and not anyone else. He may only be fourteen, but he stares his uncle down and doesn’t quite demand that the other chooses, but he makes some things clear. Except, in the end, his uncle cares for him before anything else. In the end, his uncle chooses _him_ first and foremost.

So the years pass and Zuko gathers his allies, flies under the radar with his rusty ship and his crew of misfits. Then, news comes: the Avatar is alive.

* * *

The palace has never been safe, not really. It is not kind or gentle or caring, but Azula is the one who can do without that unlike her brother. Still, she is careful. There are no scars decorating her skin, but she remembers bruises and burns and sometimes her brother’s screams haunt her nightmares as Ozai holds a hand of flames to his son’s face. The screams sometimes entwine with screams from an event long past, when Azula once had a bird that died and was reborn in its own flames.

But the palace is full of people. These people keep their heads down, stare at the ground, flinch when Azula walks past, but these people are everywhere. Azula is alone, on a pedestal as a prodigy, on a throne that costs more than it’s ever given her, on a battlefield that she never should have had to walk.

Her friends are gone—Mai and Ty Lee to places where they should be safe, or at least safer. Azula hates that fact but is simultaneously grateful for it. Still, trying to be like her brother for once, Azula gentles herself when speaking to the workers at the palace. They are invisible, more often than not, and Azula knows how useful it is to be invisible.

A network of spies grows, spiralling outward from the palace, and Azula stands in the centre of it. And as she collects more people, Azula feels the need to bare her teeth at Ozai grow. But she keeps her fangs hidden and smiles instead, precise and knife-sharp.

The information and short messages she gets from her brother aren’t enough to keep her informed of everything, but it’s enough for Azula to put the pieces together and send back her own replies. She never tells her brother she loves him in these messages, they are for important information only—movements of troops, new allies, recently heard rumours. Besides, her brother knows that. She’s never had to tell him.

* * *

There are some things that the siblings will never share with each other:

Zuko will never tell his sister of how he made himself the target so she never faced their father’s anger until he was banished.

Azula will never tell her brother of how she dreams of having wings and flying through the sky, fire searing her tongue.

Here are the things they know: they love each other and together they can do anything.

* * *

Rumours are quick to fly through the different nations. But news has always flown fast, and rumours of this kind are whispered and shouted and everyone wants to hear them. Soon, everyone will.

“Have you heard? The Avatar has returned!”

“Have you heard? The Princess has left the palace!”

“Have you heard? Have you heard? Have you heard?”

* * *

Then, of course, there are the whispers carefully passed along, hoarded and shared in equal amounts.

“The Blue Spirit was seen nearby.”

“The allies are growing stronger, soon they will attack.”

“The 41st Division lives still.”

But such things are treason and, of course, aren’t spoken about in towns occupied by the Fire Nation.

* * *

The Avatar is not responsible for Fire Lord Ozai’s fall, that much has always been clear. Rather, a number of factors are responsible for his fall but there are three main events. The most well-known and factually backed-up ones are, of course, Azula’s coup and Zuko’s attack on the capital. The third event, however, is based on stories and conjuncture. There is no evidence, outside of witnesses, that says this is true. But many swear that, on the day Fire Lord Ozai fell from power, a dragon flew over the capital.

Here is what no one knows but Azula: the dragon flew over the capital and she remembered flying once too. She remembered Agni, too, when she died. But that had been a lifetime ago, and there is no point remembering such things.

The dragon flew over the caldera, Azula launched a political coup, and Zuko fought to reclaim the caldera.

Here is what is recorded: Zuko fought and most of his people bowed and stepped aside. Behind him, there were people from every nation. He stood and he did not stand alone.

Here is what is recorded: Azula stood and stared down Ozai and told him that he failed. Behind her, the Fire Nation stood—some out of fear, some out of loyalty, some out of apathy. She stood and she did not stand alone.

Here is what isn’t recorded: Zuko marched to the palace and he stopped to help anyone injured that he saw. Azula stood in front of Ozai and spoke for both Zuko and her.

Above, a dragon soared and the sun shone and Agni’s pleasure was clearly seen. That, too, wasn’t recorded.

* * *

There will be an after, of course there will be. There’s much to do. The war is not over, though Ozai has been killed. Zuko’s allies may trust him, but they have yet to see him lead a country. And Azula, of course, is still a threat.

But that is not what the siblings care about when they finally meet up after three years apart. No. Instead, they laugh. How can they not? It is, after all, rather ironic that it is Zuko who leads the army and Azula who leads the political side of things. Because it is Zuko who will be Fire Lord and Azula who will oversee the Fire Nation’s military might and act as the advisor.

Because, in the end, the positions they picked up would never have been chosen by them if they’d had a choice. Then again, if they’d had a choice none of this would have happened.

It _did_ happen, however, and there’s no denying that. So while the rest of the world rejoices at Ozai’s fall, the siblings will grieve and laugh and act like the children they are for now. No one will see them as they stalk the shadows, as they race down the hallways, as their laughter rises in the air. No one will be there but them, and that’s all the family they really need. They will never need anyone more.

Here is what they don’t yet know: their family will grow. This is what they will one day realise: their family is more than them, made by choices rather than bound together by blood. Their future will hold this: their happiness, their triumph, their love.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie, this was originally a small piece of writing. Or it was _meant_ to be at least. That quickly failed. Anyway, the idea behind this was that Zuko cared for his people a lot and I focussed on that point, along with Azula loving her brother a bit more and them banding together in the face of what happens to them. 
> 
> In case you were wondering, Azula was a dragon in another life and she still has those instincts. I don't really touch on it heavily so it's likely very confusing, but to be fair, this was going every direction but the one I'd planned for it to go in. 
> 
> Anyway, don't have much to say at the moment. But I hope you enjoyed this fic! I will eventually get around to working on my actual ATLA long-fic, but that's a future problem. Feel free to find me over on [tumblr](https://silent-silver-slip.tumblr.com/).


End file.
